BEDWORTH secured their Warwickshire Premier League status for another season when a fine performance delivered an emphatic 129-run home win over Sutton Coldfield, writes Paul Smith.
If confidence was low following a long winless run it was far from evident as a Ross Parnell half-century plus useful contributions from opener Griegan French and skipper Abdul Hafeez enabled the hosts to post 222 for seven.
And Bedworth’s seam attack did the rest with the outstanding Waqar Dad and Josh Thomas sharing seven wickets as high-flying Sutton were bowled out for 93 in 25.4 overs.
This sixth win of the season moved Hafeez’s team 50 points clear of the relegation zone ahead of their seasonal finale at Attock next Saturday. This means Moseley Ashfield – who lost at Stratford – return to Division One along with Bablake.
“It was a brilliant effort from everyone and a convincing win,” Hafeez said.
“That display against a good Sutton side shows the potential that exists and to do it without some key players missing through injury is doubly good.
“The key for us over the winter is to work out how we translate that potential into performances and results.
“Griegan and Ross batted very well on a used pitch and although we had a bit of a wobble in the middle we did well to get to 222.
“Waqar and Josh then blew away their top order and produced a few very good balls that got their big players out.”
After opting to bat first, French was joined by Ryan Parnell in an opening stand worth 76.
But, after Parnell fell for 18 the home side quickly slipped to 123 for five against a visiting attack in which former Warwickshire all-rounder Aaron Thomason grabbed four quick wickets.
French’s typically fluent 66-ball 47 contained eight boundaries, but once he and Parnell were joined in the pavilion by Nick Thomas (17), Finn Haynes (6) and Raksy Pupalla (0) it took a fine partnership between Ross Parnell and his skipper to stem the flow.
Bedworth’s sixth-wicket pair added 77 with Parnell, who looked in fine touch following his hundred in the Second XI seven days earlier, stroking 55 from 65 balls before he fell to the returning Jacob Squire-Wood in the closing stages.
Enough time remained for Hafeez to reach a workmanlike unbeaten 42 from 55 balls as the hosts closed on 222 for seven. Thomason returned 4-43 from ten tidy overs while Squire-Wood who claimed 2-32 was the other stand-out performer in the visitors’ eight-man attack.
Sutton’s chase got off to a poor start when French struck an early blow but it was his new-ball partner Waqar who piled on the pressure by quickly removing Lee Thomason and Shailan Srikanthan.
Meanwhile, Josh Thomas had replaced French and when he grabbed the prized scalp of Aaron Thomason the visitors were 41 for four.
Raul Ram struck some defiant blows from the middle-order while making an even-time 30 containing a six plus four boundaries, but once he fell to Thomas the end was nigh.
And it was leg-spinner James Cooper that delivered the final salvo by claiming 2-1 from 16 deliveries as Sutton were bowled out in the 26th over for 93. Dad finished with 3-35 from ten immaculate overs while Thomas claimed 4-42.
